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Tax time and benefits: Philippines.
A take-home sheet for people at the session. Other countries: United States · United Kingdom · Canada · Australia · New Zealand · India.
Moraph for Good · Fluent
Tax time and benefits: Philippines
Handout · moraph.org/commons/sessions/fluent/tax-time-and-benefits
Filing a return can be how refunds, credits and some benefits reach you. This sheet has what to keep, how to spot a scam, and the free official help where you live.
Why file
- Tax taken from your pay may come back
- Some credits are only paid if you file
- Some benefits use your tax information
Free help first
- Look for free official help before paying
- Ask a paid preparer the full price first
- A refund loan is a loan: ask what it costs
Keep these
- Copies of every return you file
- Income statements and receipts for claims
- Every letter from the tax or benefit office
Scam signs
- Threats of arrest over tax
- Payment by gift card, crypto or payment app
- A refund link sent by text or email
- Go to the official site yourself to check
In the Philippines
- Substituted filing for many employees. If you earn purely compensation income and your employer has withheld the right amount of tax (tax due equals tax withheld), you may qualify for substituted filing, and employees who qualify don’t have to file the annual income tax return. People with two or more employers file BIR Form 1700.
- Keep your BIR Form 2316. Your Certificate of Compensation Payment and Tax Withheld (BIR Form 2316) comes from your employer. If you qualify for substituted filing, you sign it and your employer gives you back the original. If you need it stamped “Received”, you can ask the BIR office, with your employer’s certification that you were on the list it filed.
- Filing it yourself. The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) offers the eBIRForms package, which you can download from the BIR website to fill out a return and submit it online.
- Help in a crisis. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) runs Assistance to Individuals in Crisis Situations (AICS), which gives medical, burial, transportation, education, food or financial assistance to help people on low incomes who are in crisis.
- Fake BIR emails. The BIR warns of malicious emails that appear to come from it and ask for details such as bank account information and mobile wallet credentials. Don’t click the link or open the attachment; close the message and delete it.
Official places to check:
- Bureau of Internal Revenue: bir-cdn.bir.gov.ph/BIR/pdf/RMC%20No.%2051-2024%20Annex%20A.pdf
- Bureau of Internal Revenue: bir-cdn.bir.gov.ph/local/pdf/Digest%20RR%2011-2018.pdf
- Bureau of Internal Revenue: bir-cdn.bir.gov.ph/BIR/pdf/eMAIL%20Alert%20Advisory%206-13-25.pdf
- Department of Social Welfare and Development: aics.dswd.gov.ph/aics-program
More free official help in the Philippines: moraph.org/commons/help/financial-literacy/ph
General information, not advice about your own situation. Checked 20 October 2026. If an official source says something different, it is right. Free to copy and adapt. moraph.org/commons/sessions/fluent/tax-time-and-benefits